This invention relates to an apparatus for transporting sheet material from a stacker to a bundler position.
In the past, paper material such as newspaper in signature form has been stacked or assembled on flat tables after printing operations from conveyors or stackers and then moved by hand to another portion of the table for compression and bundling. Such an operation has several disadvantages. Firstly, such hand movement of the stacked signatures requires considerable strength and effort. Secondly, movement of the signatures along the table tends to abrade and damage the lower edges of the signature in contact with the table.
The present invention, on the other hand, provides a stacker to bundler carriage shuttle apparatus which rides on tracks which can be raised or lowered for picking up and transporting signatures from the stacker to an off-line position for compression and bundling. Such apparatus renders insubstantial the effort required to move signatures and reduces damage to the signature.